Security systems for homes, offices and apartments are now very common and these security systems typically include a control panel which receives and processes signals from sensors and communicates by telephone with a monitoring facility when an alarm condition occurs. Upon identification of an alarm condition, the monitoring authority typically contacts the fire or police, depending upon the nature of the alarm, and the proper authority investigates the situation.
For actual alarm conditions, this is the exact procedure that would be desired, however, in practice, most alarm conditions are due to user error, which is not confirmed until after the appropriate response by public authorities. This places unnecessary demands upon the fire and police and has resulted in certain restrictive procedures being adopted.
In particular, recurring false alarms (possibly as many as four false alarms in one year) may result in the police not investigating such an alarm condition, or certainly not investigating a reported alarm condition on an immediate basis. False alarms remain the most common problem for security systems and the monitoring companies and public servants who respond to such alarms.
The security industry is well aware of this problem, however, it is difficult to estimate the number of potential clients who would invest in a security alarm system, but are intimidated by the arming and disarming sequences of security systems and the possibility of user caused false alarms.
With security systems, there is typically a keypad closely adjacent one point of entry, for entering a code sequence. A user enters the premise at this point of entry and basically produces a delayed alarm condition. The security system allows the user a certain period of time to enter a proper code at the keypad to disarm the system and thereby nullify the alarm condition they created. This can be a stressful situation, particularly for people not familiar with the security system on a constant basis or for elderly users.
Another disadvantage of many security systems is the required time to install such systems. Even in the case of wireless alarm systems which, by definition, do not require hardwiring of the various components, the installation time can be considerable.
Some security systems have provided an exterior device which allows the system to be turned on or off. For example, a fixed position remote security control keypad can be provided. With systems of this type, the problem of the very short time period to correctly enter the security code at the keypad is avoided. However, protection of the fixed position keypad (e.g. from weather conditions and even possible sabotage due to its position) makes this solution not totally satisfactory. Also, the costs for exterior keypads is prohibitive.
Therefore, existing systems have certain operating deficiencies and are not "user friendly" with respect to the arming and disarming function. Furthermore, many such security systems do not have the capability of querying the system before entry to determine the status thereof, which may be highly desirable.